Scotland, United Kingdom bank holidays 2026

2026 at a glance

• Boxing Day falls on Saturday 26 December and is observed on Monday 28 December.
• In 2026, public holidays fall on 10 weekdays in Scotland, one more than in 2025.

Bank holidays in 2026

11 dates are counted as non-working in Scotland in 2026; 10 of them fall on a weekday.

• observed substitute weekday off

Working days and hours by month

Working days are Monday to Friday minus the counted holidays. Hours are shown for a 7.5-hour and an 8-hour working day.

• Jan 20 working days in January, 2 holidays
• Feb 20 working days in February
• Mar 22 working days in March
• Apr 21 working days in April, 1 holiday
• May 19 working days in May, 2 holidays
• Jun 21 working days in June, 1 holiday
• Jul 23 working days in July
• Aug 20 working days in August, 1 holiday
• Sep 22 working days in September
• Oct 22 working days in October
• Nov 20 working days in November, 1 holiday
• Dec 21 working days in December, 3 holidays

Compare with the rest of United Kingdom

Long weekends in 2026

Runs of three or more days off in a row without taking leave.

• 4 days Thursday 1 January 2026 to Sunday 4 January 2026
• 3 days Friday 3 April 2026 to Sunday 5 April 2026
• 3 days Saturday 2 May 2026 to Monday 4 May 2026
• 3 days Saturday 23 May 2026 to Monday 25 May 2026
• 3 days Saturday 13 June 2026 to Monday 15 June 2026
• 3 days Saturday 1 August 2026 to Monday 3 August 2026
• 3 days Saturday 28 November 2026 to Monday 30 November 2026
• 4 days Friday 25 December 2026 to Monday 28 December 2026

Best days to take leave in 2026

The longest single break for each number of leave days, built around a public holiday.

Leave plans for the whole year

Non-overlapping breaks that give the most days off for a given number of leave days.

Try any budget from 1 to 30 days in the leave planner

Countdown

The days to the next holiday appear here when JavaScript is on.

The working days left this month and this year appear here when JavaScript is on.

Count working days between two dates

Calendar and data downloads

The subscription works in Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. The CSV file also lists the days observed by some.

About bank holidays in Scotland

Scotland has its own list of bank holidays, the same across the whole of Scotland. In 2027 the list has nine days: New Year's Day, 2 January, Good Friday, the early May bank holiday, the spring bank holiday, the summer bank holiday, St Andrew's Day, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. In 2026 there are ten, because a one-off bank holiday on Monday 15 June marks Scotland's participation in the men's FIFA World Cup. The UK government publishes the confirmed dates on GOV.UK, and HolidayTally checks its own calculation against that list.

The legal basis is the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971. Schedule 1 of the Act lists the Scottish bank holidays: New Year's Day, 2 January, Good Friday, the first Monday in May, the first Monday in August, 30 November (St Andrew's Day) and Christmas Day. St Andrew's Day was added by the St Andrew's Day Bank Holiday (Scotland) Act 2007. The spring bank holiday on the last Monday in May and Boxing Day appear on the GOV.UK list but not in the Scottish part of Schedule 1. Section 1(3) of the Act allows a special day to be appointed by proclamation.

When a bank holiday falls on a weekend, a weekday usually becomes the holiday instead. Schedule 1 states that New Year's Day and 2 January move to 3 January when they fall on a Sunday, that Christmas Day moves to 26 December when it falls on a Sunday, and that St Andrew's Day moves to the following Monday when it falls on a Saturday or Sunday. In 2027, 2 January is a Saturday and the substitute day is Monday 4 January. In the same year Christmas Day is a Saturday and Boxing Day a Sunday, so Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 December are substitute days.

Several Scottish dates differ from England and Wales. The summer bank holiday is the first Monday in August (2 August in 2027), not the last. Easter Monday is not a bank holiday in Scotland, while 2 January and St Andrew's Day are. As a result the number of working days in a month can differ: in March 2027 Scotland has 22 working days, one more than England and Wales, because Easter Monday falls on 29 March.

Local holidays are a separate system. The Scottish Government states that public or local holidays are determined by local councils and can differ between areas; they are not on the national list and HolidayTally does not count them. The Scottish Government also states that not everyone is entitled to paid leave on bank or public holidays.

Source and last check

Dates are calculated with the python-holidays library 0.108 and checked against the official sources below. Every date for 2026 matches the official gov.uk bank holidays data, checked on 15 November 2026. Last checked: 15 November 2026.

Sources

• https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays
• https://www.gov.scot/publications/bank-holidays/
• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/80/section/1
• https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1971/80/schedule/1

How the counts are made